ArticleNature communications2026
In situ structures of the portal-neck-tail complex of bacteriophage T4 inform a viral genome positioning mechanism.
Article in Nature communications, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Isolation and Genomic Characterisation of Five Novel Lytic Bacteriophages Infecting the Emerging PathogenViruses · 2026Article
- Dynamic adhesion device of phage OE33PA drives Gram-positive host recognition.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Cryo-EM structures of bacteriophage T4 portal-neck assembly intermediates reveal a viral genome retention mechanism.Nature communications · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The post-genome packaging mechanisms that govern the assembly of an infectious virion are poorly understood in bacteriophages and other viruses. Here, our near-atomic resolution cryo-EM structural analyses uncovered an assembly- and conformation-driven genome positioning mechanism in the tailed bacteriophage T4. We show that following headful packaging, which generates a pressurized head, a global conformational change occurs in the portal structure, probably triggering packaging termination and ejection of the packaging motor. Our high-resolution structures of the neck of the virion further show that the neck undergoes conformational changes upon docking of a pre-assembled tail onto the sealed neck, which then opens a genome-gate. Driven by the pressure of the packaged DNA, the genome travels through open neck channels, binds and compresses the resident tape-measure protein, and halts at the bottom of the second topmost disk of the tail tube. Pressure-suspended within the virion's innermost tunnel and secured by a baseplate plug, the genome remains poised to flow through the tunnel into a host cell upon receiving the host receptor recognition signal.
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